From the Ukraine comes Polynove Pole. I have to confess that I knew nothing about this band when I recieved this CD, but after only a few listens to these 10-songs and 51-minutes worth of symphonic, Gothic doom metal I am left quite impressed and wondering why I had never heard of this six member band prior to this. Perhaps it is the fact that all of the lyrics are sung in Ukrainian. Whatever the case may be, their new CD is titled “Na Semy Vitrah” – which translated into English means “On the Seven Winds”. The band have already release a demo in 2005 and an EP in 2008, so this is their full-length debut and it is quite a treat. The band is fronted by the duel vocals of Marianna Laba and Yuriy Krupyak. As I mentioned, the lyrics are sung in Ukrainian so I really hope I don’t butcher these song titles too badly. Let’s get into it…The atmospheric opening track “Na Semy Vitrah” starts off slowly before the heaviness picks up. Marianna‘s vocals are on the operatic side of things and they are quite impressive. Yuriy‘s vocals on the other hand could not be more different. His vocals are very brutal – almost barbarien like – there is a huge contrast between the two styles, but that’s part of the overall appeal of this band. The second track “Viter z Pivnochi” begins with a seriously long keyboard intro before the other musicians join in and the song really gets heavy with keyboards adding a cool back drop and Yuriy’s vocals taking charge. Maryanna‘s vocals come in and the two singers sing bits of the song together, which makes for a cool effect. This track is almost 7-minutes long and it is quite dramatic sounding. “Ta, Shcho Tantsyuye Na Mogylah” keeps things moving in the right direction. Probably my favorite song is the 8-minute epic “Chorna Rillya”. This song has many twists and turns and I would say that it is almost a progressive sounding song. Great track! Other highlights include: “Nichni Ptahy”, “Polynove Pole” and the closing number “Vid’ma”.Overall I would say that Polynove Pole are quite a good, technically proficient band. The fact that the sing only in their native language should not be viewed as a strike against them, it really added to the appeal for me. From the very first note played on “Na Semy Vitrah”, Polynove Pole had my attention. Let’s hope we have not heard the last from this very promising and talented Ukrainian band.